A Disruptive Alarm on Shabbos

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QUESTION: I am on vacation in the Catskill mountains and the electricity went off briefly on Shabbos. I now have an alarm that is beeping loudly. It is very disruptive. Can I ask a non-Jew to turn off the alarm?

ANSWER: Ordinarily, one is not permitted to ask a non-Jew to do any melacha on Shabbos that one is not permitted to perform himself. Therefore, if one can close the door of the room or block out the noise with blankets, this is the preferred method. However, if this is not effective and the alarm is causing one distress, they may ask a non-Jew to unplug it. This is because turning off an alarm is at most a rabbinic prohibition. One is permitted to ask a non-Jew to violate a rabbinic prohibition (shvus d’shvus) in cases of great personal discomfort (See Magen Avrohom 276:15).

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.